Nvidia just released a 12GB type of the RTX 3080 card on Monday. The company announced two new graphics cards at CES, and it didn’t make sense to further segment an already granular lineup of GPUs. However, the 12GB RTX 3080 is here. It’s a marginal upgrade over the base model, featuring 2GB more of GDDR6X video memory, a 3% bump in core count, and a 9% increase in power draw. It’s as marginal as upgrades come, despite coming with somewhere around a 50% price increase.
The GPU shortage has created a hard situation for AMD and Nvidia. List prices mean effectively nothing, hype draws in droves of profit-focused customers, and paper launches have become the norm.
The 12GB RTX 3080 price has not been set yet by the Nvidia, which is a good thing. Add-in board partners (AIBs) like MSI, EVGA, and Gigabyte are the ones that ultimately bear the cost of manufacturing, and in a time when component prices are determined by the whim of the supply chain, a list price only serves as an inaccurate marketing touchstone.
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12GB RTX 3080 Reviews
There are not 12GB RTX 3080 reviews yet. Like the 12GB RTX 2060, Nvidia announced this new model through a driver release — the same day that anyone with pre-release access to the card could download the driver. Embargoes, deadlines, and press drivers are not important. What is important is that no one knows how the 12GB performs on launch day, which is the only day for many months that you will be able to get a card for a reasonable price.
Nvidia has not set a list price, and early signs are not promising. Take EVGA’s 12GB RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra. The company has the card listed — of course, out of stock — for $1,249. That’s $40 more expensive than the same model of the RTX 3080 Ti.
Keep in mind that the RTX 3080 launched as a $699 graphics card originally. While $1,249 may not seem too bad given the secondhand prices of 10GB models, it’s downright insulting to charge such a high premium for such a marginal update. The GPU pricing crisis will wane, but the inflated list price of the 12GB will remain.
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GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3080
The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3080 graphics cards deliver the ultra-performance that gamers crave, powered by Ampere—NVIDIA’s 2nd gen RTX architecture. They are built with enhanced RT Cores and Tensor Cores, new streaming multiprocessors, and superfast G6X memory for an amazing gaming experience.
The new dual axial flow-through design delivers the highest possible thermal performance without compromising fan acoustics. This innovative design reinforces the natural airflow in the chassis for a quieter and cooler gaming system.
GeForce Game Ready Drivers deliver the best experience for your favorite games. They’re finely tuned in collaboration with developers and extensively tested across thousands of hardware configurations for maximum performance and reliability. Game Ready Drivers also allow you to optimize game settings with a single click and empower you with the latest NVIDIA technologies. That’s what we call Game Ready.
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